The following is our athletes' stories in their own words. The language may be rough at times, but so are their stories. The only editing that has been done is to bold the names, and to add and format paragraph breaks.
Rochon Taylor
My name is Rochon Taylor people know me as Bobo. During my younger years up to 10 years old I moved consistently throughout San Diego. I don't really recall any place being home because everywhere I lived seemed temporary. My mother got sent away to jail she served up to 10 years this is when my dad met my step mom and she welcomed me and my big brother into her house in Serra Mesa. This is when life seemed to settle down for me and I could focus on me more than ever. I begged my dad to sign me up for tackle football I realized I was good at the rec center when I would run touchdowns like laps on the kids at school. I had a special passion for football, when I stepped onto the field nothing else mattered.
There was a certain rush I had when making a big hit or scoring a touchdown that kept me going. I realized what it meant to play as a team, the game taught me valuable life lessons that I will carry on for the rest of my life. The game taught me how to be a man. I played pop-warner football for the Kearny Bulldogs where I was a Linebacker my entire career. My dad had a friend who coached at Balboa and begged my dad to let me play for him. In the year of 2007 I transferred teams to play for the Raiders where we won the national championship in Florida and I was invited to play in the Army All-American game in San Antonio Texas representing the west side of the nation. During pop-warner I went to a free football camp called JPD ran by the NFL hosted at Francis Parker High School.
Anyway I could improve my game I would. This was a full contact camp and I had lots of fun smashing on the inexperienced kids at the camp. Players from all over the city came to this camp to improve there game. I was noticed by the coaches at Francis Parker High School they told my dad they were very interested. When my dad relayed the news it gave me the fuel I needed to seal the deal. Coming out of middle school I was offered a scholarship to attend Francis Parker High School which is a private school that costs over $25,000 a year for tuition alone. I realized I had a future in football and it was going to take me a long way. My freshman year I ran through junior varsity and seen limited playing time on the varsity level.
My Sophomore year in HS I started both ways at corner and slot. I also excelled as a return specialist. I was nominated as second team defensive back in our conference. Junior year I played every position on the field; I was given the playmaker of the year award and was also named 1st team running back in the conference. At this time I was speaking with many D1 level schools, talking to coaches over the phone every night. With everyone waiting to see how I would polish off my high school career I pulled my hamstring in camp and missed my first two games.
During preparation for week 3 I tore my ACL in practice, which was a season ending injury. All coaches turned there backs to me when I told them the news. After the injury my career seemed over, the coaches of my high school basically cut me off when I was no use to them. From here I told myself I wouldn’t let this injury end my career, this was not the way I wanted to be remembered. I fought and trained hard doing my own physical therapy from youtube videos and accepted a “referred walk-on” spot at the University of Arizona because no school was looking to invest into an injured player who could possibly never come back the same. I red shirted at the University of Arizona and soon transferred to Portland State where I am now in my Junior season.
I've only been working with the WillToTrain organization for a little while but when I first joined I was a stranger to the group but had a warm welcoming. The program brought some of the best athletes of the city to one group where we would work and compete with each other. Everything we did as a group was everything I was missing outside of my solo workout. Coach introduced me to speed training and crafted my running form for the better. Lessons and Training sessions like the ones we have will be extremely expensive anywhere else or from any other trainer. I was astounded when I was told that coach was doing this for us and not the money. It made me want to work even harder knowing that someone who was basically a stranger has taken their free time and resources to make me a better player. This program has made me a better player no doubt and I am truly appreciative for the opportunity to be able to train with some of the best athletes San Diego has to offer.
My name is Rochon Taylor people know me as Bobo. During my younger years up to 10 years old I moved consistently throughout San Diego. I don't really recall any place being home because everywhere I lived seemed temporary. My mother got sent away to jail she served up to 10 years this is when my dad met my step mom and she welcomed me and my big brother into her house in Serra Mesa. This is when life seemed to settle down for me and I could focus on me more than ever. I begged my dad to sign me up for tackle football I realized I was good at the rec center when I would run touchdowns like laps on the kids at school. I had a special passion for football, when I stepped onto the field nothing else mattered.
There was a certain rush I had when making a big hit or scoring a touchdown that kept me going. I realized what it meant to play as a team, the game taught me valuable life lessons that I will carry on for the rest of my life. The game taught me how to be a man. I played pop-warner football for the Kearny Bulldogs where I was a Linebacker my entire career. My dad had a friend who coached at Balboa and begged my dad to let me play for him. In the year of 2007 I transferred teams to play for the Raiders where we won the national championship in Florida and I was invited to play in the Army All-American game in San Antonio Texas representing the west side of the nation. During pop-warner I went to a free football camp called JPD ran by the NFL hosted at Francis Parker High School.
Anyway I could improve my game I would. This was a full contact camp and I had lots of fun smashing on the inexperienced kids at the camp. Players from all over the city came to this camp to improve there game. I was noticed by the coaches at Francis Parker High School they told my dad they were very interested. When my dad relayed the news it gave me the fuel I needed to seal the deal. Coming out of middle school I was offered a scholarship to attend Francis Parker High School which is a private school that costs over $25,000 a year for tuition alone. I realized I had a future in football and it was going to take me a long way. My freshman year I ran through junior varsity and seen limited playing time on the varsity level.
My Sophomore year in HS I started both ways at corner and slot. I also excelled as a return specialist. I was nominated as second team defensive back in our conference. Junior year I played every position on the field; I was given the playmaker of the year award and was also named 1st team running back in the conference. At this time I was speaking with many D1 level schools, talking to coaches over the phone every night. With everyone waiting to see how I would polish off my high school career I pulled my hamstring in camp and missed my first two games.
During preparation for week 3 I tore my ACL in practice, which was a season ending injury. All coaches turned there backs to me when I told them the news. After the injury my career seemed over, the coaches of my high school basically cut me off when I was no use to them. From here I told myself I wouldn’t let this injury end my career, this was not the way I wanted to be remembered. I fought and trained hard doing my own physical therapy from youtube videos and accepted a “referred walk-on” spot at the University of Arizona because no school was looking to invest into an injured player who could possibly never come back the same. I red shirted at the University of Arizona and soon transferred to Portland State where I am now in my Junior season.
I've only been working with the WillToTrain organization for a little while but when I first joined I was a stranger to the group but had a warm welcoming. The program brought some of the best athletes of the city to one group where we would work and compete with each other. Everything we did as a group was everything I was missing outside of my solo workout. Coach introduced me to speed training and crafted my running form for the better. Lessons and Training sessions like the ones we have will be extremely expensive anywhere else or from any other trainer. I was astounded when I was told that coach was doing this for us and not the money. It made me want to work even harder knowing that someone who was basically a stranger has taken their free time and resources to make me a better player. This program has made me a better player no doubt and I am truly appreciative for the opportunity to be able to train with some of the best athletes San Diego has to offer.